Ben & Jerry’s, Stonyfield Farms, Annie’s and some 200 other food companies, organic farming and environmental groups have signed a letter to President Obama urging mandatory labeling laws for genetically engineered foods.
“While we will continue to support state-level labeling efforts, we believe there should be a mandatory national labeling system. FDA has the authority to require food companies to disclose the presence of these novel food ingredients,” the letter says.
The food companies’ letter comes as Coca-Cola, General Mills, Kraft Foods and the other 300-plus food companies that are members of the Grocery Manufacturers Association lobby the FDA and Congress to legislate a single federal standard covering oversight and labeling of new GMO foods.
Also this month, Post Foods said it will roll out a non-GMO verified Grape Nuts in January 2014, making it the second food company in less than two weeks to cave to pressure from an environmental group and the public and stop using genetically modified ingredients in a cereal.
Post’s move closely follows that of General Mills, which released non-GMO original Cheerios in early January, though Cheerios is not third-party verified.
